New York Travel

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Traveling through the Finger Lakes region of western New York in 1833, the English actress Fanny Kemble found it to be a realm of “beautiful solitudes” that were “blessedly apart from the evil turmoil of the world.” Unwittingly, she had described the dual nature of the Empire State, which possesses one of the world’s capitals of frenzy and haste, New York City, as well as rural solitudes in endless variety. New York State is very nearly the size of England. And upon it nature has mapped out her own brand of dukedoms and baronies — the Adirondack and Catskill mountains, the Finger Lakes, the valley of the Hudson River — each a world unto itself, with its own mood, myths, and varied charms.